Exchange Messaging Outlook 17 Jan 2001

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Exchange Messaging Outlook
Volume 5, Number 17

Greetings! Welcome to Vol. 5, No. 17, of Exchange Messaging Outlook, a biweekly newsletter about Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft Outlook.

Today's highlights:

Outlook 2001:Mac
Irregular appointment recurrences
SharePoint Portal Server
Nickname resolution
Other tech newsletters

Regular features:

New utilities
Updated utilities
Other new resources

Outlook 2001:Mac

A public beta version of the long-awaited Outlook Macintosh client once code-named "Watson" is now available for download at http://www.microsoft.com/mac/outlook/outlook_prod.asp. Not to be confused with Entourage, the new PIM in Office 2001 for Macintosh, Outlook 2001:Mac works only with Microsoft Exchange Server and includes no support for POP or IMAP mail accounts. It offers much greater interoperability with Windows versions of Outlook and a new user interface -- check out the screenshots we've posted at http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/mac.htm#ol2001. We'll be adding some tips and tricks for Outlook 2001:Mac to that page.

We've been watching the discussion in the microsoft.public.outlook.mac newsgroup and the user comments on the MacWindows site at http://www.macwindows.com/exchange2k.html. So far, the two biggest missing features seem to be Palm synchronization and the ability to compose HTML messages.

Microsoft product manager David Siroky says they're trying hard to get sync into the final release, planned for this summer. As for HTML, it looks like that will rely on the Exchange Server to do the conversion to and from the rich-text format that Outlook 2001:Mac uses.

Irregular appointment recurrences

Outlook makes it easy to set up an appointment or event that occurs every Wednesday or every other month or once a year. But it doesn't have an obvious way to handle an appointment that occurs at the same time and place, but on Saturday for two months, then on Sunday. In some cases, you may be able to deal with such an irregularly recurring appointment by creating several recurring appointments -- say, one for the Saturday appointments and other for the Sunday occurrences. Another approach is to create one appointment, then hold down the Ctrl key as you drag and drop it on the new dates. The disadvantage in both those approaches is that, if the details of the appointment change, you can't modify the original recurring item and have the changes appear in all the other instances.

We'd be interested in hearing whether you've found any better methods to deal with this situation.

SharePoint Portal Server

The new Microsoft server formerly codenamed "Tahoe" is now officially SharePoint Portal Server. Tahoe combines portal, search, Web Storage System and document management capabilities. You can get more information and a download of Release Candidate 1 from http://www.microsoft.com/servers/sharepoint/eval.htm.

Nickname resolution

The articles in the last two issues of EMO prompted a message from one of our friends at Microsoft Product Support Services, who pointed out that the Nickname field on an Outlook contact is actually used for automatic address resolution, at least some of the time. The problem is that this feature works only if Outlook is in Internet Mail Only mode. It doesn't work for Outlook in Corporate/Workgroup mode. (If you don't know about the differences between the two modes, see http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/choosingmode.htm.)

Other tech newsletters

We're really excited that we can now bring you Exchange and Outlook news every two weeks. Readership for this EMO newsletter has doubled in the last year, thanks in part to our association with FreeTechMail.org, a free global newstand lets you easily sign up for great e-newsletters on many technology topics. Check it out at http://www.freetechmail.org. While you're there, you can also rate and review this EMO newsletter and others you subscribe to.

New Utilities

GLOBAL CALENDAR DB SERVICE
http://www.completesoftware.dk/GCDbService.htm
Extracts data from Exchange Server mailbox calendars into a SQL Server or Microsoft Access database.

OUTLOOK 2001 FOR MACINTOSH http://www.slipstick.com/outlook/mac.htm
Public beta version of the latest Exchange Server client for Macintosh, previously code-named "Watson."

REALIZE VOICE
http://www.realizesoftware.com/products/rv/rv.htm
Speech recognition program that can dial numbers in your Outlook address book on voice command. Also allows you to capture and playback keystrokes with "voice macros."

TEAMNET FOR OUTLOOK
http://www.creative-nightshifts.com/
View multiple Exchange Server mailbox calendars in one window, arranged vertically or horizontally, with color-coding. In English.

WEBSCHEDULE
http://www.completesoftware.dk/WebSchedule/WebSchedule.htm
Web-based group schedule viewer for Exchange Server mailboxes with several different types of views. Works by synchronizing the mailbox calendars to a separate SQL Server or Microsoft Access database.

Updated utilities

AUTODL
http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/techinfo/AutoDL.htm
Version 2.1 is an upgrade for version 2.0, which is included in the Exchange 2000 Resource Kit . It provides a Web browser interface for group management.

NEMX EXCHANGE SERVER POWER TOOLS
http://www.nemx.com/products/powerpac/index.html
New Full Edition extends real time monitoring beyond the Internet Mail Service connector to Exchange Server mailboxes and public folders, providing signatures, disclaimers, spam blocking, addressing rules, automatic message processing and other content management features. You can also run searches on demand and take various actions on messages and attachments.

OUTLOOKSPY
http://www.dimastr.com/outspy/
Version 1.3 adds support for the IExchangeManageStore interface, access control lists and rules tables to this tool for exploring and working with Outlook, CDO and Extended MAPI objects.

Other new resources

ADDRESSING THE SCALABILITY OF DIGITAL DASHBOARDS
http://www.swynk.com/friends/bryant/bryant_p1.asp
Detailed look at the resources needed to scale SQL Server-based dashboards to 35,000 users.

CONFIGURING HOTMAIL SUPPORT IN MICROSOFT OUTLOOK 2000
http://www.slipstick.com/config/ol2000hotmail.htm
How to access a Hotmail Inbox in Outlook 2000 SR-1

DEVELOPING APPLICATIONS FOR THE WEB STORAGE SYSTEM AND OUTLOOK WEB ACCESS
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/dnmes2k/html/wssdevaccess.asp
Lots of sample code for customizing OWA, especially the folder view screen.

MACOUTLOOK DISCUSSION LIST
New e-mail and web discussion forum for Outlook 2001:Mac at eGroups.
mailto:macoutlook-subscribe@egroups.com
http://www.egroups.com/group/macoutlook

OL2000 HOW TO IMPORT LOTUS ORGANIZER 6.0 DATA http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q257/8/90.asp
MSKB article on how to export from Organizer, then import to Outlook.

WEB STORAGE SYSTEM SDK
http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?URL=/library/psdk/exchsv2k/_exch2k_welcome_to_exchange.htm
New version includes security modules and updated documentation for building applications on the Web Storage System in Exchange 2000 and SharePoint Portal Server.

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Updated Jul 15 2008

Exchange Messaging Outlook Volume 5, Number 17